BANGALORE: Managements of aided minority educational institution in the city may file a review petition against the recent Supreme Court directive allowing only 50 per cent reservation for their own community

Jesuit educationists in Bangalore who held an urgent meeting with representatives of minority communities on March 21 have termed the ruling as unconstitutional and high-handed. They have also considered making a fresh plea based on a dissenting judgment in the Supreme Court by Mr. Justice Kasliwal before the rule is enforced this June.

The court had ruled last December in a four-one majority judgment in the St Stephens College Delhi and the Allahabad Agricultural Institute case” that in no case can these institutions fill more than half the seats with candidates of their own community.

The Archbishop of Bangalore Rev. Dr. Alphonsus Mathias said that in dealing with the case the court has unfairly universalized the judgment without giving minority institutions the right to press their case. “We have to consider whether the government is trying to whittle down the rights granted to us in the Constitution which would greatly upset us. If you admit 50 Christian candidates and refuse the 51st you are denying him his fundamental right” he said.

Jesuit and Catholic aided schools and colleges meanwhile are mustering support on a local level accusing the government of contradicting Article 30 (I) of the Constitution which gives minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice They have approached Mr. James Sequeira former member of the Kamataka State Minorities Commission for legal advice

The main objection raised by these institutions six colleges 43 high schools 56 primary schools and 76 nursery schools is against the stipulation that the remaining 50 percent seats be filled only on merit said Fr. Ambrose Pinto lecturer in political science at St. Josephs College.

“Most of our institutions have barely 20-40 per cent Christian students and concentrate on admitting scheduled caste and scheduled to be students. With the imposition of the merit criteria we will become elitist institutions catering to that 7 per cent of the population which has benefitted from a high standard of education throughout.”

The judgment these institutions contend also fails to define “merit” which could differ in different pans of the country.

“Further” pointed out Fr. Ronnie Prabhu who runs the Loyola High School catering to poorer sections of the society “the preference my school gives to economically and an academically backward student is negated by the merit criteria which is an assault on the principle of social justice.”

Muslim and linguistic minority run schools on the other hand have criticized the judgment for overlooking the fact they do not even receive 50 per cent applications from other communities. This problem is acute in the schools; the Islamic Madrasa-e-Niswan High School claims not to have received a single application from other communities in its 85year-history. The principal Mrs. Sosamma VJ. A non-Muslim said “because of prejudices against our community all the 800 students here are Muslims.

Similarly Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan of Al-Ameen educational institutions pointed out that” a per cent of students up to high school are Muslims and in colleges it is definitely higher than 50 per cent We continue to give admission on a first-come first served basis and not on a merit basis.” The court has ordered that if no applications are received from other communities the admissions should be kept open for a certain period and then students from their own community admitted.

Ms. Hasanath Mansoor principal of Abbas Khan College for women said “while it is fair to keep job vacancies open the same cannot be done for education which is time-bound And though I have always welcomed other communities my college continues to have 75 per cent Muslims girls and I don’t see the trend changing just because of a court judgment.”

Applicants interestingly have often criticized the managements of Muslim and linguistic minority institutions of denying admission to candidates from their own community in favor of those paying higher donations.

The secretary of Hosanath College for Boys Mr. Mohammed Jamaluddin agreed with this adding that though the college does ask for voluntary donation for its building development fund the 40-60 composition of its students (Muslims and others) arises from the fact that Muslim parents prefer to send their boys off to work.

While all minority institutions demand that their cases be considered on the basis of the locality to which they cater this problem becomes particularly evident in the case of linguistic minority aided schools The DV V Gujarathi High School for example draws 99 per cent of its students from the Gujarati and Marwari community mainly because the medium of instruction is Hindi and it offers Kannada only as the third language.

On the other hand according to the Bangalore Tamil Sangham several Tamil-medium schools in the city are being forced by parents to switch to Kannada so that their children would not be at a disadvantage in the state. According to the Sangham Secretary Mr. R.S. Maran students in higher classes have also been given transfer certificates since these schools have suddenly switched to Kannada as their first language.

With the admission process for the next academic year scheduled to begin in April minority aided institutions in the city are hoping that an amendment or style would come though before the process is thrown out of gear.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 24, 1992